Skye Bank kicks as Court seals its branches in Osogbo over N3.9b judgement debt

 

Bailiffs from the Osun State High Court on Thursday stormed the four branches of Skye Bank Plc in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, sealed them and removed some valuable property to execute the order of the court Tuns Farms Nigeria Limited got against the bank.

The Bank, however, raised objections to the development in a statement late on Thursday.
Tuns Farms Limited and other subsidiaries of Tuns company had got three separate court judgments against the bank totalling N3.991,150 billion and the judgments were affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Akure, the Onod State capital.

The company applied to the court and got the writ of attachment and sale against goods of judgment debtor (Skye Bank) and the order was executed with the sealing of the branches and removal of the bank’s property.

The bailiffs, who were escorted to the branches by heavily armed policemen, drove out the bank officials, locked the doors and removed some property.

Our correspondent observed that generators, vehicles, air conditioners and some items from the bank were removed and taken away by the court officials.

A private car, said to be the property of the regional manager of the bank, was spared after the manager pleaded with the bailiffs who had ordered that it be towed from the premises.
The sealing of the branches of the bank was a setback for many of its customers who were oblivious of the execution of the court judgment.

Many of them had come to the bank to make withdrawals but were disappointed when they saw that bailiffs and policemen had taken over the branches.

Tuns claimed in the writ of summon that the bank offered a credit facility of N414,000,000 to it and the offer was accepted with the plan to use the fund to develop its property in Abuja.

Tuns projected to earn a net income of N1.152 billion from the project but the bank turned round and released only N150 million, thereby breaching the contractual agreements entered with the company.

In a certified true copy of one of the judgments delivered by Justice A. O. Ogunlade on March 14, 2014, the court held: “I am convinced by overwhelming evidence laid before me that the Defendant (Skye Bank) breached the fundamental terms of the contract in facility 11 of Exhibit PA1 without lawful justification and I hereby make an award of special damage in full to the Claimant, in the sum of N421,384,000, being the loss the Claimant suffered due to the refusal and failure of the Defendant to comply with the terms and conditions of the contract of 17th August, 2005.

“The claimant through one of the paragraphs of its statement of claim has established the fact that the breach of the terms and conditions of the contract in facility 11 of Exhibit PA1 caused the Claimant’s director and shareholders myriad of psychological trauma and emotional breakdown.”

Counsel to Tuns, Chief Duro Adeyele (SAN), told journalists that the three cases were resolved in favour of his clients and the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgments.

Adeyele said the court awarded N902 million against the bank in one judgment, N460 million in the second verdict and N2.6 billion in the third one, totaling N3,991,150.000.

He stated that there was nothing inhibiting his client from executing the judgment, adding that the sealing and removal of property would be extended to any branch of the bank in Nigeria if they could not raise the judgment sum.

However, Skye Bank Plc has described as an abuse of the judicial process what it termed the illegal action of Tuns Farms Limited.

It said the company acted illegally by disrupting its operations despite a Notice of Appeal and stay of execution order filed by the bank against an Osogbo High Court judgement in favour of the customer.

According to a statement issued by the bank, Tuns Farm abused the judicial process by approaching the same court, whose judgement had been appealed, for an enforcement order on the bank.

Curiously, the bank said the High Court granted the plaintiff’s request when it no longer had jurisdiction on the matter.

The bank explained that both the stay of execution order and notice appeal were duly served on the plaintiff.

Skye Bank said the case was on appeal at the Supreme Court and another at the Court of Appeal, with both parties waiting for a date to argue their cases.

The bank reassured its customers that normal services would reopen at its three branches invaded in Osogbo by the plaintiff and his agents on Thursday and commended them for being loyal to the bank.